1918-1939 1945-1969







Greenland during World War II

In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, Denmark declared neutrality.
On April 9th 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway, without a previous declaration of war (OPERATION WESERUEBUNG). Denmark surrendered without offering resistance. The royal familt remained in Kopenhagen; the Danish government had to cooperate with the German military authorities.
For Greenland this meant that it's government now was leaning toward the Axis powers. The USA was not willing to accept this; on April 9th 1941 Greenland was occupied by U.S. troops (in agreement with the Danish minister in Washington); the U.S. established an airbase in unpopulated northwestern Greenland. Greenland's ties to Denmark were for the remaining war years 'on ice'.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		Greenland : Recent History : Colonialism, from Randburg
Greenland Links, from The World at War
REFERENCE Article : Denmark - Colonies, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.831-832 [G]
Article : Greenland, in : Americana Annual 1943 p.332, 1944 p.312, 1945 p.332, 1946 p.335 [G]
Article : Greenland, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1944 p.326, 1945 p.329 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 3rd 2002, last revised on August 25th 2007

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